Shrugging off back issues, Joe Atley played a full SANFL season at rates of 24 disposals and 80 fantasy points, though a characteristically handball-happy disposal ratio of 4:15 in his one senior appearance didn’t impress either real or fantasy coaches. There may be a heap of things wrong at Port, but clearance rates aren’t one and Atley is going to have to wait his turn. His best hope is that journeymen like Tom Rockliff get shelved at some point as the Power plays the kids. Until then, he’s not fantasy relevant.
Lack of fortune, Atley
Shrugging off back issues, Joe Atley played a full SANFL season at rates of 24 disposals and 80 fantasy points, though a characteristically handball-happy disposal ratio of 4:15 in his one senior appearance didn’t impress either real or fantasy coaches. There may be a heap of things wrong at Port, but clearance rates aren’t one and Atley is going to have to wait his turn. His best hope is that journeymen like Tom Rockliff get shelved at some point as the Power plays the kids. Until then, he’s not fantasy relevant.
Treat Atley lightly
Despite not appearing at senior level at all in 2018 due to ongoing back issues, a buzz was building around Joe Atley going into this season as he seems a like-for-like replacement for the injured Ollie Wines with rates of 22 touches, six clearances and five tackles while carrying a back injury in ten SANFL games. Then a knee arthroscope in February severely curtailed his preseason. Atley will miss the entirety of the JLT and will struggle to develop match fitness ahead of round 1, which makes it difficult to burn anything but a very late pick on him. The window for him to make a name for himself in place of Wines was in the first month of the season, so the final red flag should be the knock on him for being a poor kick. The only consolation is that you can get him really cheap.
Atley steps lightly
Three senior games towards the end of the year showed that Joe Atley is still a way off the pace for the big league, though his SANFL form was often impressive with regular 20-disposal outings and even one above 30, plus plenty of tackles in his role in central midfield. Atley perhaps suffered in sitting behind Sam Powell-Pepper, and this may be a further obstacle to him getting enough games in the ones in 2018 to justify a draft pick. Port have loaded up with journeymen and are gunning for top four, so they may not have room for younger players. A flier pick at best, reliant on a good JLT.
